Artaxiad dynasty

The Artaxiad dynasty was a dynasty which ruled over Armenia from 189 BC to 12 AD, with Artaxata serving as their capital. Following the Seleucid defeat at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, a Hellenistic Armenian state was founded by Artaxias I of Armenia, the forefather of the Artaxiads. Artaxias united the Armenian Highlands at the expense of neighboring tribes and founded the city of Artaxata as the new Armenian capital. The breakdown of the Seleucid Empire during the 1st century BC enabled King Tigranes the Great to gain control of Armenia's prosperous trade routes, seizing control of Syria and much of the northern Levant in a 17-year campaign beginning in 83 BC. At the Battle of Tigranocerta in 66 BC, Armenia came under the sphere of influence of the Roman Republic, and, while Mark Antony invaded and defeated the kingdom in 34 BC after it allied with Parthia, the Romans lost control of the kingdom during Antony's Civil War. In 20 BC, the Roman emperor Augustus negotiated a peace with Parthia, turning Armenia into a buffer state. Augustus installed Tigranes V as king in 6 AD, but it became a Roman protectorate in 12 AD. In 52 AD, the Arsacid dynasty was the next dynasty to rule over Armenia.